Book Burning

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Jahanshah Rashidian
by Jahanshah Rashidian
10-May-2008
 

"We recall today with shame that 75 years ago - not just here in Berlin, but in all of Germany - tens of thousands applauded and cheered as the books of Erich Kaestner, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Kurt Tucholsky and many others were thrown into the fire by the Nazis" said today the German President, Horst Koehler, in a speech at Berlin's Academy of Arts.

The so-called "degenerate" books, were burning on May, 10,1933, under Hitler's dictatorship. It started from the capital of the third Reich, Berlin, with 20,000 books and went on in other German cities; the ordered was called (Säuberung) or "cleansing". The Nazis burnt books with "non-German" ideas. Books written by Freud, Einstein, Thomas Mann, Jack London, H.G. Wells and many others go up in flames as they give the Nazi salute.

The target of this historically symbolic action was the suppression of free thoughts and ideas. The action was a tactic of Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda with the target of brainwashing a whole nation. The works of leading German writers such as Berthold Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, Alfred Kerr were consigned to flames. The promotion of "Aryan" culture and the suppression of other forms of artistic production was yet another Nazi effort to "purify" Germany.

The Nazis were neither the first nor the last book-burners in history. Christianity has a longer history of defending an all-powerful deity by shielding the mind from strange ideas.

The 'Dark Ages' of the Middle Ages in Europe is full of religious atrocity , many scientists were burnt with their ideas and books: John Calvin was probably the most efficient: in 1600, when he burned Michael Servetus at the stake for heresy, and around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscript and a thick octavo printed book. Another notorious illustration of this was in July of 1562, when Bishop Diego de Landa burnet five thousand idols and many thousands of their written works.

Scientific inquiry had virtually no support in Western society from the 7th to 15th centuries. Bigoted Ecclesiasticism dammed the flow of free thought, blocking the seepage of knowledge within Western societies. Book was branded as magic and treasonous, and the writer or reader was punishable by torture or death. Bruno was burned at the stake for the crime of claiming that the earth rotates about its axis.

Several decades after the event of Islam in Arabia, Muslim invaders of Arabia galloped in new territories. they brutally destroyed great civilisations of the Middle East. Among other losses, libraries as the symbol of knowledge and wisdom of their culture were burnt to ashes. This early book-burning of primitive Muslims paved the way for 1400 years of darkness and backwardness in the Middle East.

Muslim invaders arrived with sword in one hand and the Koran in the other. Since they believed the Koran was a divine revelation, it became the starting point. The Koran instructed them to seek knowledge in all fields. It was in this perspective and under the shadow of Islamic influences, Muslim scientists, philosophers, poets wrote their works. Even worse than the censorship, their works were influenced by their own self-alienation.

Centuries later, Muslim scientists upheld the civilisation in the world when the West was in its lowest era of moral and intellectual obscurity. However, the Islamic civilisation appeared in a limited framework of progress due to its own religiosity too.

Today, the heritage of the Nazi's and early Muslims' book burning became the political Islam with its shoking results in the last three decades in the Islamic world, especially in Iran and Afghanistan.

Recalling not only the book-burning of 1933 by the Nazis, but also the early invasion of Islam in Iran, the regime launched in 1980 a cultural revolution to alienate Iranians from their pre-Islamic great civilisation by islamoarbising the whole Iranian culture. Following the Cultural Revolution, bands of Hezbollah and Islamists attacked, destroyed and burnt libraries in Iran. Millions of books were destroyed, and thousands of allegedly readers of such books were imprisoned or executed.

Not only the IRI's Ministry of Culture now censors some of Iran's best contemporary writers and researchers, such as Sadegh Hedayat, Sadegh Choobak, Ebrahim Golestan, Gholamhossein Saaedi, Ahmad Kasravi, Ali Dashti, Ebrahim Poordavoud, Zabih Behrouz, and others, but even in the recent years, they removed parts and whole pieces of works by well-known poets such as Souzani Samarghandi, Omar Khayam, Molana Jalaledin Rumi, Nezami Ganjavi, Abid Zakani, Iradj Mirza, and even some lexicons from Ali Akbar Dehkhoda and Farhang Moeen as non-Islamic.

Contrary to the Nazis in 1933, today, IRI's book burning and censorship are not so solely aimed at stamping out ideas of freedom but for a more nefarious purpose and in a line with the early Muslim invaders: suppressing our ancient culture.

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suicide because of reading Sadegh Hedayat?

by Faribors Maleknasri M.D. (not verified) on Sat May 10, 2008 12:26 PM PDT

one who committed suicide, could have read any "book", she/he would have done it anyway. She/he needs only a weak reason, a weak explanation for the action. No matter how unlogical it is.
I think sadegh was, like so many others who live in different cultures alternatively, mentaly depressed. he was westernized. think on his Barberry red dress and his likewise stories in which he - the sadegh - saw everything in Iran through dark glasses. and just these stories are translated to most europian languages. So he committed suicide. he was unhappy. he could not live in europe nor in Iran. He committed by oven gas.
after all why discuss subjects, which can not have any positive and no practically usable results. At uncle sam`s times - some call it shah`s time - were more poeple killed in prisons in iran than committed suicide. Thatis what nobody can deny. The main point of the article is to make Islam and Moslems bad but for "IRANIAN"s only. 1,5 Billion Moslems do not read these highly scientifically valuable texts. they are all soo fanatic and illitteral. Uncle sam knows best about this fact.In the IRI were also books burned and magazins like germany`s Spiegel, Times, Newsweek and likewise garbage were thrown away forever. But it was from a different point of view as hitler`s books-Burning. you can not compare the two affairs unless you write and read the "IRANIAN". In a World based on logic the two are not comparable. Only in "IRANIAN" only for "IRANIAN"s. If these nonsences make really sence to "IRANIAN"s, if they are a real consolation, a real cofort then - i think - it is all right. Write and read and discuss and dream from early days as Iran belonged to yankees and from the days to come where "WE, IRANIAN"s get rid of the Islamic republic of Iran. Let us not think about the fact that those days coincide with reappearing of mahdi(s). She/He who means "Mullahs bad, yankees good" may enjoy his/her cinviction. However the yankees seem to get realy good, to themselves: OBAMA is coming.
At the time of TAGHUT were a lot of SAVAK poeple in Germany. The intelligent ones had made personal kontakt to german secret police. After the revolution they controll the iranian immigrants. But this is again another story. Let it be. Greeting


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Most excellent and

by Anonymousss (not verified) on Sat May 10, 2008 12:25 PM PDT

Most excellent and comprehensive. I appreciate how you connect the dots in a historical context in your analysis. Any substantive analysis should take into account all the other influences and historical influences that have shaped cultures and civilization. Thank you for being an original thinker.


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To Iranian

by Anonymous 33 (not verified) on Sat May 10, 2008 11:55 AM PDT

It is much more logic is you change you name into "Al-Iran" and your avatar into "Arabia".
Your comments show your deeply Islamist ignorance.


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Troneg

To Iranian - : it is all BAD

by Troneg on Sat May 10, 2008 11:09 AM PDT

If I'd a father like you, I'd better suicide than reading what are you writing. 

Did you read "Dash Akol" or at least see the movie. to critic Sadegh Hedayat's work ? Garbage is what you have written in these pages.

Most brilliant brains are in Europe and US because they respect books and knowledge.


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Ali P.

To: Iranian-

by Ali P. on Sat May 10, 2008 11:04 AM PDT

 Your statement of "It is low to mix facts and lies together" has my wholehearted support, but then I sober up, almost immediately, by you saying:"...at the time of the Shah many good young people commited suicide because they read the garbage that Sadegh Hedayat wrote."

 Could you please name us one name - just one name- of a person who committed suicide because of reading Sadegh Hedayat?

 The name does not even have to belong to a 'good', or 'young' person.

Anyone would do.

Yours,

Ali P.

P.S. Hedayat committed by oven gas, not by "blowing his brains out", as you mentioned.


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Book burning

by Surna (not verified) on Sat May 10, 2008 10:29 AM PDT

JR, excellent article. I like the way you tie the chronological events that happened both in Europe & Iran.
Note: Nazis destroyed our beautiful Aryan culture by their raciest dogma. After their demise the aggressive cultures of both Arabs (Semitic) & Angola Saxon filled the entire world. The Northern culture of noble’s Aryan surcame to the southern culture of Abrahamic (Semitic of Ur).


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Iranian-

It's not all that bad

by Iranian- on Sat May 10, 2008 09:59 AM PDT

The only good sentense you had in your article is:

Centuries later, Muslim scientists upheld the civilisation in the world when the West was in its lowest era of moral and intellectual obscurity.

Actually if the Muslims did not give that knowledge to the West, there would be no West to talk about.

But of couse you had to say that so that people would say "Oh yes, he may have a point". It is low to mix facts and lies together, but it may trick a few unsuspecting souls.

I don't know about "book burning" but I at the time of the Shah many good young people commited suicide because they read the garbage that Sadegh Hedayat wrote. I understand that even Sadegh Hedayat himself blew his own brains out when he lived in Europe. I don't know, but I don't want my kids to read that crap. Maybe it is best if it is burnt. Mofsed mentality is not good for innocent people.


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